eeexubuntu file system error during installation

gordon__1 · 01-11-2008, 01:32 PM

ISSUE RESOLVED-NO FURTHER HELP NEEDED-THANKS

Error creating partition installing eeexubuntu...

I'm getting the error "File system was not cleanly unmounted! during the eeexubuntu install. I'm on step 4 of 7. I've got eeexubuntu-7.10.3 installed on a cd, using an external cd drive. The eeexubuntu wiki mentions using gparted, but the gparted program didn't come up, just a regular prepare partitions partition editor window.

I'm attempting to install eeexubuntu on my 8g sdhc card. I've created a 2097mb ext 2 partition, I typed in the character / as the mount point. I've added a 1044mb partition as swap.

When I select forward, I get the above error, I click cancel, and I get the msg "the test of the file system in partition #1 of scsi2 found errors (0,0,0) (sda) found uncorrected errors.

I've tried using fsck, it shows the partition as clean. It's not mounted, (I don't think). I'm a noob, and would be grateful for some help please.

Mark7 · 01-11-2008, 04:45 PM

What's eeexubuntu!?

jschiwal · 01-11-2008, 05:37 PM

I don't think that a swap partition is a good idea for a flash drive. You might want to do away with the swap partition, or create a very small one (like 50M) in case some software expects one to run. An even smaller ram drive may be better for this. Then use fdisk to repartition and mke2fs to create your ext2 filesystem. Then rerun the installation. Select your partition as root (/) but don't opt to format it. That may skip the test that was mentioned. The installer should create the /etc/fstab entry you want to mount a flash based drive.

If I understand you correctly, this is a plugin card you are installing to, correct? You may want to check what options are used by the eeepc to mount it's own flash memory partition. You don't want to use the same options used when mounting a normal hard drive. A flash card has a limited number of writes, and while reading from a flash drive is fast, writing to one isn't, so you want to use options like noatime to minimize writes.

gordon__1 · 01-11-2008, 06:09 PM

jschiwal, thanks for your speedy reply. After reading your post i must say I'm confused. I've been following the steps at http://wiki.eeeuser.com/ubuntu:eeexubuntu:customization
I have 512mb ram, so from what I've read, I'm supposed to use a swap file. If you have a moment, maybe you could review the info at the link and make some sense out of it.

jschiwal · 01-11-2008, 11:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-an-ssd.htm

An SSD has many advantages over a traditional drive. Seek time is decreased significantly, making the SSD very fast. Being sold-state, the drive has no moving parts to malfunction, and does not generate significant heat. It is also lighter than a standard drive, more power efficient, and completely silent. Finally, the SSD is more durable. If dropped or banged it isn’t as likely to be damaged.

There are, however, disadvantages to an SSD over a standard hard drive. For one, standard drives have become so affordable that SSDs cannot compete except in niche markets. Industry insiders expect SSD prices to remain cost-prohibitive until 2009. The SSD also has a life expectancy of erase/write cycles, after which it no longer performs reliably. A hard disk can deliver a good ten years of solid operation. Finally, an SSD has a significantly slower write time than a standard drive.

The current OS is Linux, so you can see what your current OS is. I'm not certain if you are installing from an external card or to your internal solid state disk. Flash memory reads bits by detecting electrons trapped in insulated chambers. To write to a bit, it tunnels electrons into the chamber. This punching through is what causes a small amount of damage every time you write to it. So there is a limited number of writes possible to a flash memory device, so a computer that uses flash memory is configured to reduce the number of writes. One option usually used is "noatime". This option will not update the access time when a file is read. Without this option, a read would be followed by a write.

A swap file may be written to frequently when used because it is accessed as if it were memory. Frequently writing to disk is what you want to avoid.

If you are installing to an external usb (hard drive) than you can ignore these precautions. If you are installing to a plugin flash device, and use a swap partition, consider that device disposable. It may be cheaper in the long run to install more regular ram.

In the very least, you may want to examine how Linux system that comes with the pc is installed. In particular, does it have a swap partition? How are the partitions mounted?

gordon__1 · 01-13-2008, 03:40 PM

ISSUE RESOLVED-Thanks for the reply, I gave it some thought and have upgraded to 2gb ram, thus the issue is resolved. I was then able to get eeexubuntu installed in minutes.

jschiwal · 01-13-2008, 05:39 PM

Glad to hear your good to go!